


Emma Swan is not a Princess

by TanyaReed



Category: Once Upon a Time (TV)
Genre: Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2012-08-16
Updated: 2012-08-16
Packaged: 2017-11-12 06:50:05
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 265
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/487932
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/TanyaReed/pseuds/TanyaReed
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>This was just a little snippet written for the LJ community onceuponaland.  We had to write about one of the characters' childhood in 200-500 words.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Emma Swan is not a Princess

Emma Swan woke abruptly to the sound of a shrill alarm. It came inside her head, where she was warm and safe and loved, and ripped her back into reality. Unwilling to completely face the day, she lay with her eyes closed.

The house around her exploded with activity. There was lots of yelling and screaming and pounding on doors. The noise was almost as harsh as the alarm had been. Still, she had known worse. Lots worse.

At least here they made sure you were fed. At least here there were no big boys with grabby hands. There were no bruises. There were just too many kids in not enough rooms and lots and lots of yelling.

She wanted to sink back into her dream. In it, she had been a princess. Her mother had been beautiful, her father heroic. She ran with carefree abandon down a stone corridor, and there was laughter. Emma had been laughing.

"Emma Swan, get your lazy hide out of that bed this instant!" The booming voice forced the last remnants of the dream away. Feeling stupid, Emma opened her eyes and sleepily climbed from her bed.

There was no such thing as princesses. There was no such thing as happiness, at least not for a child of the system like her. There was pain and there was yelling and there was fear and lonliness. To believe anything else was stupid.

There was no hope, she told herself as she dressed. There was no laughter. There was no safety.

And there sure as hell was no happily ever after.


End file.
